Trapped by Bonds
by The-Reject-Crayon
Summary: It's been two months since the akuma destroyed Motoko's town, and still Jasdevi haven't come back. And when they finally do, they can only bring trouble with them. Sequel to Bound by Bonds. JasdevixOC


Hello, Reject Crayon here~ Finally, after months of waiting, the second part in the Bonds trilogy is up! Please forgive the wait; life is rather insane, what with school, work, and other things. But, though these chapters won't be released on a regular schedual, I hope I can get as much support as I did with Bound by Bonds!

Once again, thank you for waiting patiently. I hope you enjoy this next part, and I hope my writing skill has improved since the first story. Go ahead, read away~!

Disclaimer: Ah, sadly, I do not own DMG. Such a pity.

* * *

It was a frigid, November night, and though darkness covered the earth, the lights from the city twinkled and sparkled like the thousands of jeweled stars in the sky. People that ought to have been sleeping were out drinking or gambling, while their families, if they had any, waited with worry at home. It was a place drenched in equal amounts of sorrow and joy, pain and delight, with all manner of people living there.

A few inches of snow blanked the ground, and one could tell what kind of person someone was by the tracks they left. Some child had dropped their small, pink mitten, and the poor thing sat sad, forgotten, trodden on, all alone. In the morning, it would already be gone.

Despite the unusual amount of night life, the streets were hushed. The snow silenced most noised that the light bars produced. A woman shrieked with laughter. A dog barked. Little things like this would go unnoticed.

One particular place, a restaurant through daylight hours that doubled as a lively bar at night, was especially animated that night. Women who had left their husbands, cheating men, drunkards, teens experimenting with the night life; there was a great variety of people. And, perhaps, not all of them even human, as two of the servers working there had discovered two months before.

But on the other side of town, away from that place, a house maid was pulling her skirts down and screaming down the street at two fleeing boys, but they were already too far gone.

* * *

From her bedroom, Motoko could look out over a good portion of the city. She would lean on the window ledge and stare out, sometimes glancing down to watch the people on the streets. After about nine, the crowds would slim down, and the only ones left were the ones who lived their lives at night. She had started to think of herself as one of them now.

The city was so different. Nothing at all like the country life she had lived up to that point. She could never get any sleep any more, but that could be partially the fault of the noise from below. She and Cassie lived above the bar that they tended, though it was actually Cassie's aunt who owned it. Her aunt, widowed shortly after her marriage, had been kind enough to take them in when they had nowhere else to go. The three of them lived above the bar along with the young bartender, Merrin, and the energetic Ollie, who Motoko had grown to like despite her general dislike for canines.

Cassie had started off quite nicely with Merrin, much to Motoko's annoyance. The two had been inseparable up until a week earlier, when Cassie's aunt finally said something about it. Now the two would give each other glances across the table at dinner, and more than once Motoko had woken in the night to find Cassie gone from her bed.

But for the most part, life was good. They made enough working at the bar to pay for rent, and even had excess for other luxuries. Things were going well. The past was easily forgotten.

Except, it wasn't really.

Because she hadn't seen _them_ in two months, since the night they had dropped her off in this unfamiliar place.

Morning light peeked over the hills and into the room, awaking the two occupants. Cassie sat up and rubbed her eyes, frowning, and Motoko pulled the pillow over her head, trying in vain to block out the weak sunlight.

Winter had barely started, and already the air was frozen, water slicked over with ice, and the shops stocked with warmer clothing. November, the season in which the snow starts to fall and gather, the season where the children run through the streets laughing while the weather seems new and exciting to them. By December they would be tired of it all.

Cassie was the one to assume responsibility. "Toko, we should get up…"

Motoko rolled over onto her stomach. "Don't wanna." She mumbled from beneath the pillow.

"Lazy!" Cassie jumped out of her bed, and pulled at the pillow that Motoko was holding onto. Motoko held firm to it, refusing to let go, until Cassie eventually ripped it out of her sleepy grip.

"No fair!" the black haired girl whined, pulling the covers over her head, which Cassie then yanked back.

"But Toko, today is our day off! And you promised you would go out shopping with me today!"

Motoko groaned. Shopping. Cassie considered it a sport, but she herself thought of it as a high class of torture.

"I don't remember promising anything…"

"Liar! You did and you know it!"

"At least let me sleep in on my day off!" Motoko cried as Cassie pulled her up. Her blond friend seemed to be having a wonderful time with the challenge of waking the girl.

"I _did_! It's already noon, you sleepy head!"

"Well shoot, why didn't you say that earlier?"

Motoko swung her feet out of bed with a sigh, swaying slightly as she stood up. The bare wood flood was cold, but so was the rest of the house. She shivered, pulling on some socks that she took from her dresses, and Cassie tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for her friend to get dressed.

"My word, you're slower than an old man." she complained, but Motoko just threw a glare in her direction as she pulled on a long sleeved sweater.

"And you're just as beautiful as one." Motoko responded, and laughed as she dodged the slipper thrown at her.

"Take that back!"

Motoko giggled as she jumped down the stairs two at a time, while Cassie followed her, cursing. The first floor was the restaurant and the kitchen, and Cassie's aunt was sitting at the table, reading the paper. She looked up as the two girls entered.

"You slept in." she remarked with a smile. She offered a piece of bacon from her plate to the drooling Ollie, who accepted it with a happy wag of his tail.

Cassie patted the dog on the head. "Yup! Today is our day off! So we've decided to use our time doing some much needed shopping."

Motoko made a face. "Much detested…"

"Oh quiet you." Cassie stuck out her tongue.

"Would you like anything to eat before you go?" the woman asked, smiling at her niece's playfulness.

"No thanks, Aunt Mary." Cassie answered quickly. "We're just gonna eat out. Tell Merrin good morning from me, okay?"

Without even allowing Motoko to big farewell, Cassie grabbed their coats and began dragging her to the door which led into the restaurant. A few people tried to stop them for conversation, but Cassie would have none of it, and threw open the door, and the chilly air welcomed them…

* * *

They chose to eat at a small coffee shop a few streets over, and as they waited for their food, they warmed their hands on their coffee mugs. Cassie had foolishly forgotten to grab any gloves, and Motokocould only sigh at her friend's airheaded-ness. Cassie talked away while Motoko listened.

"And Merrinsays that when he saved up enough, he's going to rent an apartment, and I can come live with him." Cassie went on enthusiastically. "Oh, I hope it happens soon! Maybe he'll propose then!"

Motoko frowned. "So you two are really serious?"

"Of course we are!" Cassie made a face. "Do we not seem serious? I'm eighteen, old enough to get married."

"… Cassie…"

Motoko's eyes focused on the table. They two had been dating since they had arrived here, and she knew that their relationship had gone pretty far. And Cassie was right when she said she was old enough to be married.

But she just couldn't help but think that it was all too soon for her friend. Too soon after the tragedy, after her father's death. She was afraid that, perhaps, Cassie was doing this to fill the emptiness of her heart left by the incident two months ago.

But Cassie went on without pause to another subject, filling the air with empty words. "Auntyhas already said that she'll help us find a house of our own. I don't want to live here in the city, so maybe we can look for something away from here. Or maybe we could built it ourselves! Wouldn't that just be wonderful?"

Motoko was going to say that it was a rather unrealistic dream when something caught her eye. Black hair, blond hair. She whipped her head around, only to be disappointed when she realized is wasn't who she was hoping it would be. Unfortunately, Cassie saw this. She leaned in.

"You're still looking for them, aren't you?" she asked in a low voice. Motoko swallowed, and turned her head away.

"They said they'd come back. I trust them on that."

Cassie gave a dreamy sigh. "It's wonderful to be in love, isn't it?"

"… I don't love them."

"Don't talk like that! They'll come back, you'll see."

Motoko lay her head down on the table, playing with the ring on her right hand.

_It's a promise_, they had said when they handed it to her. _A promise that we'll be back whenever we can._

But two months and she had heard nothing. She was ready to give up on waiting. Or, that's what she told herself.

When she pulled herself out of her thoughts, Cassie was already on another subject. "But I told him that it wasn't necessary, but he helped me anyway! Isn't that so nice?" She looked up expectantly, but her friend was already halfway down the street.

"Hey, Toko! Where are you going?" she yelled, pouting, but her friend was already out of earshot.

* * *

Cassie's aunt was working at the bar when Motoko arrived back. She glanced up from her work, smiling.

"Toko, honey, back so soon? I thought you were shopping with Cassie?"

Motoko proceeded through the restaurant, towards the back. "Got bored. I'm letting her enjoy herself without my sour company."

Mary frowned. "You're not sour, darling. Oh! That's right, you've got company. They're in the kitchen. I told them they could come back later, but they insisted on staying until you got back."

Motoko made a growling noise. "I'll kick them out."

"Be nice, sweety!" Mary called after her, frowning as her niece's friend nearly kicked the door to the kitchen open.

Motoko entered, and looked around. It was empty. Which meant the only place her 'company' could be would be… upstairs. God, this was annoying.

"I'm back, so whoever you are, make this quick! I'm in a bad mood!" she called as she stomped up the stairs, making sure to make lots of noise. The first bedroom in the hall was Merrin's, and she did a quick check to make sure it was empty. Which, it was. Mary's was next, and that one was empty as well.

She had closed the door to her and Cassie's room earlier, but it was open now, and Ollie was standing in the doorway, growling. She patted the dog on his head, and peeked inside.

She froze.

They were both grinning at her, sitting on her bed.

Them.

"Welcome home, Toko." Debitto said with a smirk.

Jasdero giggled. "Miss us?"

"We're back."

* * *

And so begins the next part. Please leave review, if you have time! Reviews help me work faster, since it lets me know people actually want me to continue this.

Until next time~!


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